Thank you.
First of all, thank you to each of you for your service to our country and for your testimony today.
I'll start with you, Mr. Blois.
There are a lot of issues that veterans deal with when it comes to the bureaucratic nightmare that's Veterans Affairs. The government often downplays those issues. It says it's trying really hard and that the issues are complicated. Even if we give some leeway and say that in fact some of these issues are complicated, there are still a lot of friction points that veterans deal with when dealing with Veterans Affairs. There are still a lot of delays. There are a lot of issues.
Aside from that, it seems like there's this inability for Veterans Affairs to be able to get just the simple things right—things like commemoration and things like recognition. All three of you mentioned these things a little in your opening statements. For you, as an Afghanistan veteran, there is this monument situation that just seems to never get resolved.
When Veterans Affairs gets these commemoration, recognition and respect pieces wrong—frankly, respect is the most important part—and when it misses them, how does that make you feel as a veteran?